


Friends All Scattered Like Windswept Leaves

by small_town_girl



Category: Glee
Genre: Angst, Drama, Friendship, Gen, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Prom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-08
Updated: 2011-06-08
Packaged: 2017-10-20 05:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/209371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/small_town_girl/pseuds/small_town_girl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the Glee Angst Meme: Kurt wonders why not getting her picture in the yearbook gets Rachel to threaten Figgins with the ACLU but him being humiliated at the prom only gets an 'I'm sorry' from her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends All Scattered Like Windswept Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Kurt can't help but feel unimportant when Rachel just hugs him and tells him she's sorry after his Prom King/Queen dance with Blaine. She threatened Figgins with the ACLU when he refused to allow her another picture in the yearbook but his utter humiliation and no promise of finding those responsible gets an 'I'm sorry'.

Over the years Kurt had grown used to feeling unimportant. Late nights at the garage were more important than being home with him, him being bullied every single day at school didn’t matter, his voice in Glee Club wasn’t used. It was just a fact of his life; he wasn‘t important.

Then he’d made a friend in Mercedes, then Tina and Artie. By the time the school year ended he was friends with cheerleaders and jocks. His relationship with his dad was slowly getting better, he was being invited to hang out, he was a Nationals-winning soloist for Sue Sylvester. How could he not matter? People cared now, people knew him as more than just ‘that gay kid’.

When school started again, that year turned out to be both better and worse. He had friends, he had a family, he was getting to sing in Glee Club, but he was still being bullied and still no one noticed. No one except Rachel. She wasn’t so annoying when she wasn’t trying to steal all the solos and their voices went so well together, especially for Broadway songs. They shared that passion when no one else could fully understand.

She made him feel important. It would have been easy for them both to continue being friendly enemies but she decided he was worth putting aside their differences to become friends. She made the first move, she did that for him. That meant more to him than he could ever really tell her. Even when he was her competition she still sought him out at Sectionals to talk, she still confided in him, trusted him not to use it against her. He was important enough to her to keep that bond.

Her party should have been his first clue. She hadn’t even invited him; he’d blackmailed his and Blaine’s invitations from Finn. She saw him as a Warbler, not as a member of their New Directions family. And her going after Blaine after he’d confided in her how he made him feel, that should have been another clue. Not only was she going after the boy he really liked, possibly loved, but she was trying to take his only friend at Dalton. But it had worked out for him in the end, Blaine was his boyfriend, and it wasn’t like things had never slipped his mind before so she could have easily just overlooked forgetting to invite him.

He accepted her for who she was and she did the same for him. They both could admit they loved attention a little too much and they weren’t good at sharing the spotlight. They just had different spotlights in mind. Rachel wanted a stage to shine but him, he could deal with being in her shadow as long as he mattered off stage, to his friends, to his family.

Prom night was supposed to be the best night of his life, no matter how cliché it sounded. It hadn’t gotten off to a good start with both his dad and Blaine criticizing his kilt. Who would have guessed that out of his father, his boyfriend, and his step-brother, Finn would be the only one to approve of such a bold fashion statement. He really didn’t give Finn enough credit for how far he’d come since last year.

He’d refused to give in and he’d worn the skirt to prom. Rachel had been supportive, as had all the other members of Glee club. Even Blaine had come around. The only person he didn’t appreciate voicing their support was Jesse St James; he didn’t trust him and he told Rachel that much. He couldn’t believe Rachel was letting that idiot back into her life.

When his name had been announced as Prom Queen he’d felt empty. Who did something like that? He did the only thing that meant sense to him. He ran. And only Blaine followed.

The only people he couldn’t blame were Finn and Artie. They hadn’t been there so of course they couldn’t follow him. But no one else came, not even just to make sure Blaine found him. If any of his friends had ran off like he had, it wouldn’t matter to him if someone else already followed them, he would have gone too.

He spent the rest of the weekend learning how to kill zombies on Finn’s x-box with his stepbrother and Blaine. Strangely, it made him feel better. He ignored all calls on his phone and didn’t check his messages until Sunday night. Mercedes, Tina, and Mike came over Sunday afternoon and he had messages from Brittany, Sam, and even Quinn. There was nothing from Rachel. Mercedes mentioned she’d said something about spending the weekend with Jesse so he figured he was nowhere on her mind.

His other friends were making plans, talking about charging into Figgins’ office and what to do when he did nothing. They all knew he wouldn’t do anything. He had to make Finn promise not to beat up half the school looking for answers. It was hard enough keeping it from his dad and Carole, but if Finn got suspended for fighting they would find out and he would be back at Dalton.

He still had faith in Rachel though. He knew she hated when people were wronged, especially when it had something to do with a person’s sexuality. He expected her to have a plan in place the second he saw her at school on Monday morning; she’d walk right up to him, take his arm, and drag him into the choir room where the entire Glee club would be waiting for them. Rachel always had a plan.

She did walk right up to him on Monday morning, she gave him a big hug, told him that she was sorry for what had happened. She asked him if he was alright, then she just walked away after he told her that he was fine. That was it. There was no famous Rachel Berry plan, no dragging him to the choir room, no talk of demanding that Figgins find those responsible.

He remembered how last year she’d threatened their principal with the ACLU when he pulled their yearbook spot. Getting another picture of her into the yearbook was important enough to her to use her dads’ pull with the local chapter of the ACLU but not him. He could go to the ACLU himself or tell his dad and Carole, who would be in Figgins’ office in a second demanding answers, but Rachel already had a connection with the branch, she knew who to call to get things done.

He knew she’d threatened a restaurant manager with the ACLU to get Finn a job. So it was alright to use her connection when she wanted to impress a boy or get her picture in a yearbook, but she wouldn’t use that connection to demand those responsible for his humiliation be found. She didn’t mean anything by it, probably hadn’t even thought of it, but the fact that she hadn’t thought of it made him feel unimportant. It made him feel like, in her mind, a picture of her was more important than him being humiliated in front of their entire grade. He was important to everyone but her.


End file.
